Niall Keatley, Alan Thomas (trumpets) Andrew Sutton (horn) Amos Miller (trombone) David Gordon-Shute (tuba). Recorded at All Saints, East Finchley, London, 6-8th June 2017.Apart from revivalist New Orleans style marching band music of the type purveyed by the likes of The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and The Hackney Colliery Brass Band, music for brass ensembles is relatively rare in the contemporary jazz field. Of recent vintage Lester Bowie’s `Brass Fantasy` springs to mind as does the Norwegian Brass Ensemble whose disc of Zappa transcriptions remains one of my favourites. That `try everything` trumpeter Dave Douglas has also produced some estimable work with his `United Front` band and the `The Westerlies` quartet but this suite of pieces composed by several notable figures drawn largely from the current British jazz scene has more of a conservatoire feel about it than any of the aforementioned. Those who can recall the 1957 Columbia disc `Music for Brass` which featured pieces by Gunther Schuller, John Lewis, J.J. Johnson and Jimmy Giuffre will get an idea of the influences in play. As a merging of jazz and classical styles they used to call it `Third Stream Music`, a term that has become largely redundant now that the multiplicity of streams flowing into the jazz canon has become something of a torrent, but like the music on the Columbia disc a classical formality pervades the Onyx Noir project and draws on a rich tradition of concert music for winds.

The late Kenny Wheeler, to whom the disc is dedicated, was asked to write a piece for the quintet back in 1994, which provided a catalyst for the wider project inspiring them to commission further pieces of around five minutes in duration from a list of composers that reads like a Who’s Who of contemporary British jazz. Wheeler’s two-part composition paraphrases music from his personal repertoire and with its open, optimistic melodic shapes laid over gentle dance like ostinati it provides an inevitable highlight amongst an array of delights from such luminaries as Gwilym Simcock, Laurence Cottle, Trish Clowes, Mark Nightingale, Guy Barker, Liam Noble and Jason Rebello and Mike Walker with several equally significant contributions from composers whose names are less familiar to my ears.

Classical allusions abound without being overtly derivative. Stravinsky inspired neo-classicism informs a number of pieces as does the salon music of his compatriot Shostakovich whilst sombre chorale passages remind us of the English pastoralists Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst. In this vein one of the most affecting moments occurs in a piece by David Powell entitled `Symbols at Your Door` with a meditative tuba solo that recalls the moving `sad shires` episode in VW’s Third Symphony. Though the pieces appear to be wholly scored there is plenty to resonate with jazz ears with Guy Barker’s film noir type sequence, from which the recital takes its name, being a particularly potent moment redolent of an Elmer Bernstein `mean streets` scenario whilst Colin Skinner’s musical depiction of diverse train journeys in `Firebox` capitalises on elements of `jazz age` nostalgia.

All the music is meritorious and provides a superb showcase for the instrumental talents of the quintet who are currently celebrating their 25th anniversary during which time they have premiered over 150 new works fulfilling their mission to bring artistically stimulating but accessible music to a wide audience. With this release Onyx Brass have found a most fitting way in which to mark that achievement.